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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25997632">Us</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MontyPink/pseuds/MontyPink'>MontyPink</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Shod &amp; The Age of Resistance [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dark Crystal (1982), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Growth, Lizard birds doing me a huge angst there, M/M, Rating at mature just to be safe, Remix/Redux IV: I Know What You Did Last Remix (2006), but it's not explicit, some naughty stuff is mentioned</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 08:43:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,895</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25997632</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MontyPink/pseuds/MontyPink</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What is a Ritual-Master supposed to do when he finds the Treasurer in his room like that?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>skekShod/skekZok (Dark Crystal)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Shod &amp; The Age of Resistance [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Us</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Sequel to 'Control' :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His icy blue eyes followed the other pace up and down his chambers. It has been almost a full trine since that fateful evening. The evening in which Shod finally showed is true colors. At first Zok was afraid of the Treasurer. What more was he hiding behind that meek little smile? How much strength did that feeble body of his hold? And his mind, though damaged, was more cunning and calculating than he had ever thought it would be.</p><p>The Ritual-Master felt watched around him, even when the others were around. During his rituals the eyes of the Treasurer were always on him. Normally, Zok would prefer to have all eyes on him but with Shod? He wished he looked away. It wasn't so much the looking, but the thoughts behind it. He was deducting why Zok did things, analysing his every move to use it against him later. </p><p>During dinner he would look at what he ate, how he ate and who he spoke too. No matter what; Shod was always watching. He always expected a repeat of that fateful night. With the fragile one reading him like an open book. But a night like that was never repeated. No, the results of Shod's observations were done differently. If he thought he looked tired during a ritual, Shod would carry the heavy items back to the place where they belonged. If he ate less than usual he would always come over with a snack. If he looked tired, Shod would help him fall asleep or allowed him to sleep in. </p><p>Nobody took notice of their relationship and if they did; they never said anything about it. Everyone was too busy. The rebellion had not died down as they hoped and they had to actually fight the gelfling. There was so much calculating, so much discussion, no one noticed what anyone was doing after nightfall. No one had the luxury to care. After so much planning the time for action was finally there; only a few weeks ago had they started their very one sided war. The gelfling were too confident. Too proud. They still remembered the downfall of three of them. Why would the others be any different? It was merciless and even Zok, who was branded as a sadist by Shod, even he had his moments where he had to look away. </p><p>Today especially had been a rather violent attack. </p><p>The Spriton had been training for a while now but they weren't up against pinchers and claws. It was over before anyone even know it started and in the rubble of it all; The Treasurer. </p><p>He had been tasked to lead the attack on Sami Thicket. A horrible move on the Emperor's part. He knew that Shod had been living there. The Ritual-Master wondered why he picked Shod. Was it out of hope that he would perish there? Or perhaps he wanted to punish him again for thinking he was an unfit ruler. Even though Shod hadn't made a single comment about it ever since his beating. Zok had insisted he would accompany the Treasurer. He never figured out if So agreed or not. He just went. </p><p>skekShod just stood there, the village burning around him. There was no emotion on his face. No response to the yelling and screaming. Not even a nearby explosion triggered a reaction. After all was said and done and almost all were captured or killed Shod spoke:</p><p> </p><p>"Let's go h-home." </p><p> </p><p>He had moved past Zok and entered the carriage that brought them here in the first place. Even during the ride home the Treasurer didn't speak or had any other reaction. He just sat there, looking at the scenery outside; a Thra slowly dying accompanied by the smell of smoke and faint sounds of screaming. </p><p>Dinner went by the same. Almost everyone was celebrating, dancing or singing but Shod remained in his seat; silent. He ate and then excused himself. Zok entertained the thought of following him and spending some time alone together but he decided against it. It was not like the other wanted him there. If he wanted too he would have asked him. So he stayed with the others.</p><p>Hours later he found his own room, a little intoxicated but not drunk. No that was unbecoming of a skeksis of his status. But even if he were drunk, what he found when he entered his room would have surely scared him back into sobriety; a very frazzled treasurer, pacing back and forth while breathing like he just did forty laps around the castle. He had not heard someone wheeze and snort like that since skekVar was still alive. </p><p>It was clear the other didn't even notice him. Shod would always acknowledge him; a stare, a nod, a lingering glance but right now? Nothing. </p><p>The Ritual Master wondered why he would go to his chamber instead of Shod's own. His chamber was mostly used for one thing when they were together. A strange new sensation and activity that Zok hadn't really done with many before. In the beginning; he did. But he lost interest. His partners were boring or too weak. It felt the same each time and he felt more like a chore than something he genuinely enjoyed doing. It was always rough and quick. </p><p>Then along came Shod.</p><p>Shod didn't seem to care for any pain. He encouraged it even. He put Zok's pleasure first, his own second. There were things he did with Zok that made him genuinely wonder who taught him that but he dared not ask, afraid he may not like the answer. Every time he thought about it, as he saw the Treasurer below him, it would fill him with rage and jealousy. The thought that anyone else had been allowed this view, this feeling... this attention. How dare anyone touch what was so rightfully his? </p><p>But right now Shod didn't seem to be in that kind of mood. He didn't walk over to press his own body against Zok's own. He didn't tease with his tail or whisper what Zok liked to hear. No arms around his neck or waist, no trying to crawl onto his lap.. No. The Treasurer was out of breath, walking in circles and drooling. His pupils were small and he looked so lost. </p><p>Should he walk to him, touch him? A reassuring hand on the shoulder? It seemed wrong somehow. While skekShod had become the master of the gentle touch; Zok was still rough, rude and uncaring. His eye fell onto a small jar; a jar he keeps his peeper beetles in when they were required in a ritual. With the back his hand he gentle pushed it onto the table and heard it shatter. He didn't look where the shards landed, too concerned for the other in the room. </p><p>It worked.</p><p>Like a startled animal he looked at Zok, eyes bigger than he had ever seen them but his pupils still small and twitching.  He stood there, unmoving except for his heavy breathing, waiting for Zok's next move.</p><p>"Hey.. it's okay.." The Ritual-Master's body felt so heavy but he ignored as he took a step forward.</p><p>"G-et back!" </p><p>Like his body was his to command Zok stopped moving and looked at the other in silence.</p><p>"You w-wanted this.. don't lie!" Talking seemed even harder than it usually was for him, now mixed with heavy pants and the occasional sob. "You ssssssaid ssssso yourself! Remember? A-all gelfling will die!" </p><p>Ah,</p><p>So that's what this was about. It all fell into place now. The Treasurer had gone into shock and now realised what had happened today. </p><p>"Are you h-happy now!?" </p><p>"Not really no." </p><p>For just the briefest of moments Shod seemed to relax, his shoulders beside him and his head slightly cocked. And then, before skekZok had registered what had happened he felt the weight of Shod against him, his fist repeatedly slamming against his chest. There were no words but there was wailing and sobbing.</p><p>"W-when!" He looked up at him, his entire face wet with tears. Even now Shod looked beautiful. How his hair stuck to his face. How he didn't even attempt to hide this raw emotion he felt. It took him so much to not kiss him right now or stroke his face. </p><p>"When is it enough for you!" He spat his words. Even during that night almost a trine ago, Shod had not raised his voice. in fact, he couldn't remember if Shod ever raised his voice. </p><p>"This morning."  Zok was surprised by his own words. He didn't need to think on it; he spoke the first things that entered his mind. What an odd sensation for he who always curated every word he said.  "It was enough this morning." </p><p>The Treasurer had stopped beating him but his fists were still on the other's chest. </p><p>"It was fine this morning before it demolished you. It was enough then. But I did not see it. Too consumed by my own wants and needs and never stopping to see yours. You never wanted this. I couldn't stop the others. Nor did I want to." He admitted. He wasn't ashamed of it. The feeling he got from the essence was almost unmatched.. almost. "But I could have protected you. Yet I did not and the truth is. I can't explain to you why. But when I think of the future.. any future. How can you expect me to imagine one without you in it? Without what we are doing we will die. And if you had stayed behind.. had refused everything then...  Then there wouldn't be a most wonderful you anymore." Words he had struggled so long to say now came easily. "So here I am, addicted to two things at once. The thing gelfling give us... and you." </p><p>SkekShod was looking calmer until the word 'gelfling' was mentioned. He let himself fall to the floor and started to gasp for air again. This time Zok followed him to the ground and held his hands. "It's okay.. I'm not going anywhere." </p><p>"They're g-gone.."</p><p>"They are." </p><p>"I betrayed them.." </p><p>Zok kept rubbing his thumbs over the other's fingers, carefully crafting a response. Objectively: He did betray them. But he had to put that gently. "I am sure they died knowing this had not been your idea.." </p><p>"D-does that m-matter?" </p><p>"Perhaps not. I do not quite grasp death or what happens after it but I know life. I can't imagine death being horrible if you had led a great life." Zok rarely thought about death, skeksis didn't die after all. So his words came straight from his heart, hoping it may give the other some comfort. </p><p>He carefully let go with one hand and used it to gently lift up Shod's face. "Of all the lords they had to die for.. I'm sure most gelfling wouldn't mind that lord being you." The Treasurer looked away and Zok realised what he had said. Justifying the murder of friends to his partner. </p><p>Partner.</p><p>Never had he thought about what they were. But Partner felt right.. it felt whole.</p><p>"What is done is done." Two hands traveled to the other's waist and gently pushed him into his own lap. His giant golden sleeves made a make shift blanket against the horrors of the world as he wrapped his arms around the gentle Treasurer. "But the future is still unwritten." He felt the other relax a little but not enough to be satisfied with. He held out his hands and Shod understood what he wanted and he put his own hands where they belonged; in Zok's own. He felt the soft and warm skin of the one he loved so much against his rough and cold own as their fingers intertwined. </p><p>Zok continued to talk. Surprising himself with how soft and gentle it sounded. "What must I do, to keep you happy? What is it that you need so you will stay here, with me?" He was glad he couldn't look Shod in the eye. He wasn't sure if he could speak these words if their eyes met. </p><p>"Sssssstop this madness.."</p><p>"I cannot..." His heart bled. He wanted to promise Shod the world but he couldn't even honor his first request. "But.. I can stop my part in the war. It's not possible for me to stop the others. Nor can I stop the essence draining. I need it... Almost nothing makes me feel so good. So alive.. but.."</p><p>"B-but?"</p><p>"There is you. The way you look at me. The way you always care. I am truly a foolish one for not realising what you have been doing. Your observations are not to hurt me. They are for my own good. The ways you care for me. The gentle touches you never seem to run out of. That makes me feel even greater, more alive and so full." </p><p>Shod moved a little bit but he didn't try to break away. "You t-thought I was g-going to hurt you..?" </p><p>"It is not completely undeserving. With how I've been treating you. Not as an equal but as a lesser." </p><p>"I d-don't mind."</p><p>"You should." </p><p>The faintest of 'huhs' escaped the other's lips. </p><p>"You keep telling me and yourself that you like this but I don't believe that. You may enjoy being...." How to put this in a way that made him still a respectable Ritual-Master ".... roughened up a bit."  The pitch of his sentence became higher with each word as if he was asking a question. "But outside our nightly rituals..."</p><p>He was red and felt hot. Why was it so hard to talk about? It was a completely normal thing after all. Nature. Nothing to be ashamed of. But describing his sexual relations with Shod simply felt like he was telling the world a secret he would love to keep for himself. Not out of shame but out of fear that if anyone knew they would steal him from Zok. "..I should be gentle to you."</p><p>Shod tried to lift his head but Zok's own prevented that. </p><p>"I use you, Shod. You claim that it's fine. You claim that you don't care but it's not fair. I see it and I do nothing to better myself. Yet.. Yet you stay. You and your kindness. You are right. You are in control of me but no longer in the way it was before. Back then I just wanted to hurt you. I associated your punishment with pain. It was a concept removed from the person it happened to: you." He was squeezing Shod's hands perhaps a little too hard but the Treasurer remained silent. "But now I know you. And I still hurt you because I am so angry at you. Angry that you chose to stay and be with me. I do not deserve even a second of your time and yet you devote all of it to me and I do nothing in return. Perhaps because you hide it so well. Your pain and suffering. You are fragile looking, you stumble and you mumble but you are alive. Every day you show everyone how alive you are. But tonight I saw how much pain you have been enduring.. all on your own in silence.." </p><p>He let go of the Shod's hands and wrapped his arms around him with force. "And I didn't even see it. Me, whose biggest fear is a life without you.." </p><p>SkekShod let himself be hugged and rocked by the taller one. He did not know what to say. His panic of tonight made place for confusion. Was Zok speaking the truth? Were his feelings for Shod changing and if they were would it stay this way or would it be like it used to be? </p><p>"I don't want to hurt you anymore." </p><p>His voice was fragile; like it would crack every moment. </p><p>"But I can't stop myself. I need help but I have no one to ask for that except the person I am hurting. The only person who I know won't object or defy me." </p><p>"If t-this is what you w-want.. I w-will help you.." Shod's voice was equally fragile.  "I want t-to work on...<strong> us..</strong>" </p><p>Neither of them moved or said anything until a tingling feeling the Ritual-Masters tail forced him to move. He had been sitting on it and the his body finally objected to the lack of blood circulation. </p><p>He got to his feet and didn't help Shod up, No. He squatted down and hooked one arm under the other's knees and supported his back with his other hand. Every so gently he put him on his bed. And then, as he looked at the other's face, still wet with tears and sweat, he kissed him. Better than he ever did. Longer than he had ever done. Shod responded by pulling him on top of him.</p><p>And for the first time since the beginning; it was gentle and warm.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>The next morning Zok awoke before the other did and he watched as he slept. So peacefully with the smell of the night before still lingering in the air. He wore nothing but a smile on his face and Zok made himself a promise; he would stop at nothing to protect that smile. </p><p>Even if it meant defying the Emperor. </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Eventually I'll write 'that' scene but probably not part of a chapter, I felt that it would distract from the chapter. So I owe you guys a more spicier Zok/Shod fic in the future ! For now I hope you enjoyed and look forward to the future of this series!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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